CONSOLIDATING MATTERS IN LEGALSUITE

Author: Stacey Robinson and Laura Stewart

Date:                January 2009                

Audience:        Bookkeeping    

Summary:        Consolidating Process in LegalSuite

CONTENTS:

· Introduction

· Setting up the Main Consolidated Matter

· Assigning individual Matters to the Consolidated matter

· Assigning many matters to the Consolidated matter

· Running the Consolidation Process

· Conclusion

Introduction:

Consolidation is a process whereby one would take the selected matters and set it to consolidate to the main account.  Balances from the individual matters will be transferred to the main account using the consolidation process.  

Setting up the Main Consolidated Matter:

A main consolidated account must be opened up in the all matters screen as this will be the matter that all the individual matters will be consolidated to.

To set up a main consolidated matter click on the All Matters icon .

The All Matters screen will appear (Fig 1):

Fig 1: All Matters Screen

· Click the insert icon

The Inserting a Matter screen will appear (Fig 2):

Fig 2: Inserting a Matter Screen – General Tab

File Reference -           Change the file reference number to reflect /99999 e.g. ABC1/99999, this is

because 99999 is the largest number in LegalSuite and it will not interfere with the number sequence that gets generated when inserting in a new matter for the client. 

Matter Type -  As this is the consolidated matter the matter type must be set to Consolidated.

· Click on the Invoicing Tab

The information for the invoicing section of the matter will be displayed (Fig 3):

Fig 3: Inserting a Matter Screen – Invoicing Tab

The Create Invoices check box must be ticked as invoices are created on the main account.

Consolidation Method     –          This method must always be set to No Consolidation on the main

account.

Consolidate To               -           This must be left blank on the main account.

· Click the OK button.

The main consolidated account has now been inserted in the all matters screen.

Assigning Individual Matters to the Consolidated Matter:

On the individual matter right click and select change.

The Changing a Matters screen will appear (Fig 4):

Fig 4: Changing Matter Screen – Invoicing Tab

· Select the Invoicing Tab.

There are three methods of consolidation:

Full consolidation                    -           If you select full consolidation the system creates a transaction

that transfers the balance of the individual matters to the

consolidated matter which offsets the business debits and trust

credits of the individual matters against each other.  This is used

if you require one long tax invoice that incorporates a summary

of each matter’s balances at the top, followed by the individual

matters and their transactions.

Consolidate Balance only        -         This option creates a transaction that transfers the balance of

the individual matter to the consolidated matter which offsets the business debits and trust credits of the individual matters against each other.  This is used when you require separate tax invoices for each individual matter plus a separate summary tax invoice of the balances of each matter.

Consolidate Invoice only         -          This option does not create a consolidation transaction and so

                                                            there is no offsetting of individual business debits with trust

                                    credits.  This is used when you require one tax invoice

                                    incorporating all individual matters and their transactions.

Consolidate To                       –          The main account must be filled in this section.

Below is an example of a Full Consolidated Invoice:

Below is an example of a Consolidate Balance Only Invoice:

Below is an example of a Consolidate Invoice Only Invoice:

Assigning many matters to the consolidated matter:

· Click on the all matters icon.

· The all matters screen will appear (Fig 5):

Fig 5: All Matters Screen

You can either tag the matters you wish to consolidate or filter the matters for a particular client and then right click and tag all the matters.

Once you have tagged your matters you will then click on File – Tagged Matters – Modify Tagged Matters.

· The following Update Tagged Matters screen will appear (Fig 6):

Fig 6: Update Tagged Matters Screen

· Click on the Invoices/Statements tab.

The consolidate method must be set to the method of the consolidation and the consolidate to must be the main consolidated account.

· Click the OK button

Running the Consolidation Process:

· Click on the batches icon.

· Click on the Special Batches icon.

· Click on the Consolidation button .

The following Filter screen will appear (Fig 7):

Fig 7: Filter Consolidation Matters Screen

On this filter screen you may filter by client if you would like to run the consolidation for a selected client or employee, matter, document set, cost centre or group.

· Click the OK button.

· The following Consolidation screen will appear (Fig 8):

Fig 8: Consolidation Screen

· Print the consolidation batch by selecting the printer icon .

· Click on the post icon .

The consolidation batch has now been posted and the transactions have been allocated to the relevant accounts.

Conclusion:

The consolidation process is part of the period-end wizard or can be run at any stage under Accounting, batches, special batches. This is a wonderful way to help make your matters easier to work with. You may consolidate many matters on LegalSuite quite easily using this helpful whitepaper.